The present invention relates to the art of computer driven printers, particularly color inkjet printers of desktop size in which reduction of the footprint of the printer enables more efficient utilization of available space. Printers of this type have a printhead carriage which is mounted for reciprocal movement on the printer chassis in a direction orthogonal to the direction of movement of the paper or other medium on which printing is to take place through the printer. The printer carriage of a color printer typically has a black ink and one or more color thermal inkjet printheads removably mounted thereon and a printhead servicing station at one end of the path of carriage travel at which the printheads may be wiped, primed and capped during periods of non-use.
Printhead servicing stations have a finite width which is dictated primarily by the number of printheads to be serviced and the number of printhead servicing functions to be performed. The printhead servicing station may be designed with printhead wipers, caps and spittoons into which ink is ejected during printhead priming. The servicing elements may be mounted in stationary position on printer or, as is preferred, the servicing elements may be moveable on a sled or other support to the servicing position and moveable away from the servicing position to an access position where the servicing elements may be repaired or replaced. It will thus be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that elimination of one or more of these servicing functions at the service station enables the width of the service station to be reduced thus resulting in a printer of smaller size and footprint. In co-pending application Ser. No. 09/115,153 filed Jul. 14, 1998, entitled PRINTHEAD SERVICING TECHNIQUE by Glen Gaarder owned by the assignee of the present invention, reduction in the width of an inkjet printer from the traditional design in which all servicing elements are located at one end of the path of carriage travel is made by relocating the printhead capping function, which is not needed during printing, into the print zone of the printer.